A dancer, choreographer, filmmaker and writer, Yvonne Rainer is widely recognized as having played a key role in the postwar dance revolution, inspiring generations of choreographers and dancers.

The invitation to Yvonne Rainer will include the Portuguese premiere of her most recent durational group performance, The Concept of Dust: Continuous Project – Altered Annually, and a lecture given by the artist in a programme that will enable participants to gain a fuller understanding of one of the pioneering figures of the Judson creative atmosphere and a key source of inspiration for the contemporary dance world.

The Concept of Dust: Continuous Project – Altered Annually is an ongoing work-in-progress that interweaves formal dance with diverse texts dealing with aging, mortality, personal histories, and material quoted from a variety of sources, e.g., ancient Mideast dynasties (Metropolitan Museum), paleontological findings (New York Times), and literature. These are intermittently read aloud by Rainer and the dancers. The power of language as a trajectory that runs parallel to the music (Gavin Bryars, Giovanni Paisiello) continues to be an important coordinate in Rainer's work. All three elements – movement, music, and texts – occasionally merge to produce a somewhat melancholic ambiance. The performers in "Dust" have been given the freedom to initiate and/or abort the movement phrases as they wish, making spontaneous decisions and exercising options throughout the 50-minute duration of the piece. The result is a structure that is seemingly random with unpredictable moments of unison, humor, and startling convergences

YVONNE RAINER, one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater (1962), made a transition to filmmaking following a fifteen-year career as a choreographer/dancer (1960-1975). After making seven experimental feature-length films — "Lives of Performers” (1972), "Privilege” (1990), and "MURDER and murder” (1996), among others — she returned to dance in 2000 via a commission from the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation ("After Many a Summer Dies the Swan”). Since then she has made six dances, including "AG Indexical, with a little help from H.M.,” "Assisted Living: Do you have any money?” and "The Concept of Dust: Continuous Project – Altered Annually.” Her dances and films have been seen throughout the U.S. and Europe. Museum retrospectives of her work, including drawings, photos, films, notebooks, and memorabilia, have been presented at Kunsthaus Bregenz and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2012); the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; Jeu de Paume, École des Beaux Artes, La Ferme du Buisson, Paris, and Raven Row, London (2014). A memoir — "Feelings Are Facts: a Life” — was published by MIT Press in 2006. A selection of her poetry was published in 2011 by Paul Chan’s Badlands Unlimited. Other writings have been collected in "Work: 1961-73" (1974); "The Films of Y.R." (1989); and "A Woman Who…: Essays, Interviews, Scripts” (1999). She is a recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a U.S.A Fellowship.